Grotesque Characters

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that some characters can be characterized as grotesque because of their behavior or some unusual feature that sets them apart. The paper then examines the grotesque characters in Eudora Welty's "Petrified Man," Flannery O'Connor's "Good Country People" and William Faulkner's "Barn Burning." The paper shows how in each story, the grotesque stand out as embodying certain types and attitudes in a stark fashion, making them bigger than life but still realistic.

From the Paper:

"As it happens, the characters in all three stories can be seen as conveying local color to the reader and as representing a partial view of a segment of the country, and in all three cases, that part of the country is the South. This does not mean that grotesque characters are associated only with the South, for they are not. Such characters serve to illustrate a particular vision of the South in these three stories, though, and also suggest a certain heightened treatment of character and narrative in order to convey a theme."

More papers on Grotesque Characters:

• Comparison Essay # 94178 : "Grotesque Characterization"
• Analytical Essay # 124837 : "The Grotesque in Literature"
• Essay # 46031 : "Grotesques"

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